The Noiral: Reloaded

This right here is pretty much going to be the close of any modding I do for Skyrim. It has been fun working on a custom race and warpaint mod for as long as I have, but it is about time for me to move on, until possibly the next Elder Scrolls game, and we'll see if I can bring the Noiral into that one.

That being said, "Reloaded" is basically the way I wish I could have originally released this race, but obviously couldn't due to lack of skill and not having a full understanding of what I was doing as I stumbled my way through the process. There are several changes that have been made, and the race now plays differently than the original released rendition, with a moderately different look (20 arcane glowing eye textures have been added for starters). For those that enjoyed the original mod, I am leaving it up, but am no longer offering support for it (found under the Other Downloads section).

So, if you like your old textures, powers, and everything the way it is in the old mod, then don't touch this new version. This one is not as overpowered as the original, and there are quite a few changes from powers, to textures and so on.

Playing this version, Unstoppable Juggernaut and Runic Resistance no longer exist, the race has some different starter powers, auras have been changed up to have a more elemental feel with new names, the primal beasties also now enjoy fiery auras, and the spells from Primal Spells have been incorporated fully into the main mod with some improvements (like Primal Dragon and how it acts/reacts), and of course the new Primal Cat Form, with some slight tweaks to everything to try and bring the race more in line with vanilla races (not entirely on the level of vanilla races quite yet, but close enough for my tastes). And, unlike the original mod, Vampire Noiral in this mod maintain all their powers at regular power levels.

There are ADEC, UNP, UNPB, and CBBE versions of the race available, with nude and non-nude renditions available. As well, there are male versions of the race as well, nude and non-nude (Sundracon Flaccid and FavoredSoul Erect): http:skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24397/

For release here is the CBBE rendition with Sundracon. There is nudity in this version of the mod.

If you have any issues, please check my troubleshooting guide near the bottom of the page. Any further questions and concerns, I can be reached at: http:skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24397/

There are no requirements unless you are using a handful of very select mods and are running into issues. Be aware that if you have an old version of the original Noiral mod or Primal Spells, then uninstall them before installing this mod.

Now, if you are using USKP, Better Vampires, UFO, or Vampiric Thirst...well, things just got a little more complicated for you...but not by much. If you have any of the above mentioned mods, just go to the Race Compatibility mod, and download that using the nifty all in one installer, and follow the prompts for whatever mods you have from the above listed, clicking yes to overwrite when asked.

And again, as stated above under requirements, if you are running USKP, Better Vampires, UFO, or Vampiric Thirst, just go to the Race Compatibility mod, and download that using the nifty all in one installer, and follow the prompts for whatever mods you have from the above listed, clicking yes to overwrite when asked: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24168/?

The Noiral were a small tribe of Nords who followed teachings laid out in an ancient manuscript written by Thadgeir the Tattooed Man, who was supposedly a hero of the Atmoran Civil war, and one of Ysgramor's five hundred companions. This manuscript and the secrets held within were handed down from Thadgeir to his son Yngvar, who was the founder of the Noiral. Upon learning these secrets, and mastering the rituals held within Thadgeir's book, Yngvar shared the secrets with a select few, who then sequestered themselves in the wilds of Skyrim, away from prying eyes to keep these secrets from the hands of those who would abuse the power. This tribe has survived in Skyrim, passing their secrets down from generation to generation, and has largely remained out of the affairs of Skyrim...that is until the Thalmor incursion.

On their crusade to stamp out Talos worship, the Thalmor discovered the Noiral's village deep in the wilds of Skyrim. Though the Noiral wielded great power, the Thalmor numbers were too great, and the Noiral tribe was decimated, and the village was burned to cinders and ashes. The few surviving Noiral are now scattered throughout Skyrim...

Thadgeir's Teachings:

Thadgeir's manuscript talked of Thadgeir's early journeys and travels to strange and unknown lands. It was in these journeys that he learned of strange rituals and rites, and that he branded his body with mystic symbols (earning him the moniker of "the Tattooed Man"). These symbols are said to bind primordial nature spirits to ones very being, and allow the branded to draw upon this spirit, granting them various powers and the ability to shapeshift into primal beasts.

The Noiral can manifest a portion of their power and create a fiery wolf for short periods of time to aid them in their journeys. This primal avatar gains in power as the Noiral gains in levels. Note: When loading into new cells/areas, the avatar will not follow you. It will need to be re-summoned into these areas if needed. (This beast has a glow map and will glow in the dark!)

This allows you to take the form of a Primal Bear. Be warned you will take increased damage from cold based attacks while in this form, but do have some resistance to fire based attacks. You have two swipe attacks, hitting the space bar will perform a lunge attack, and hitting the dual attack will perform a standing attack. This form lasts for 120 seconds. Pressing the shout button while in this form will revert you back to your normal form. (This beast has a glow map and will glow in the dark!)

This allows you to take the form of a Primal Cat. Much like the Primal Bear form, you will take increased damage from cold based attacks while in this form, and have some resistance to fire based attacks. While weaker than the Primal Bear form combat wise, this form offers increased speed and carry weight, making it good for travel, and it lasts 480 seconds. You have two swipe attacks, hitting the space bar will perform a lunge attack, and hitting the dual attack will perform a bite attack. Pressing the shout button while in this form will revert you back to your normal form. Note: While this ability appears on your begining powers list, you will not be able to use it until you reach a magicka pool of 200. (This beast has a glow map and will glow in the dark!)

This is an aura type ability that when activated, grants the Noiral an enhancement to destruction, one handed, and two handed. It should be noted that by activating this aura, it will cancel out any other active auras. Quick Note: Not sure what the issue is, but from time to time when activating this aura, the tendril effects show up, but the skin effects don't. This can be solved by going into and then out of first person.

Scattered throughout the game, there are additional tomes that were taken from the Noiral camp by the Thalmor, and have made their way out into the world. There is a note that can been in the Helgen Keep torturers chamber with some clues as to where these items can be found.

This is an aura type ability that when activated, grants the Noiral frost resistance, and increases stamina regeneration. It should be noted that by activating this aura, it will cancel out any other active auras.

This is an aura type ability that when activated, grants the Noiral flame resistance, and increases health regeneration. It should be noted that by activating this aura, it will cancel out any other active auras.

This is an aura type ability that when activated, grants the Noiral shock resistance, and increases magicka regeneration. It should be noted that by activating this aura, it will cancel out any other active auras.

Similar to Flames with a shorter range, and you blast your foes with primal elemental energies, and can slow them down some.

This is similar to Ice Bolt, but you strike your foe with with primal elemental energies, and have a chance to paralyze the target for a few seconds.

The Noiral can enhance their senses by infusing themselves with primal energies, allowing them to see in the dark, and locate nearby friends and foes. It should be noted that if you cut off Primal Sight before it's time frame is up, you will not be able to see in the dark, but the ability to locate friends and enemies will persist until the spell timer runs out.

This phases your physical body out of existence, releasing primal energies in its place. You are ethereal and immune to attack with increased speed, and enemies attacking you will take frost, fire and electricity damage. Basically a nice little "oh $#!t" button. Usable once per day, and it lasts 60 seconds.

This allows you to release a Primal Spirit in the form of a dragon. This summons lasts for five minutes, and can be used once per day. As a warning; while this dragon will attack your enemies, it still basically functions like a dragon; while flying in the air during the fight, if it spots a tasty foe which is not currently a part of your current fight, it may stop and attack it. As well, this is a large creature...I would recommend against trying to summon it in tight spaces. AND, this summoned creature does take extra damage from cold based sources. (This beast has a glow map and will glow in the dark!)

Primal Bear Form II and III: These are basically stronger versions of the Primal Bear form power, with better defenses, regeneration and attack power.

Noiral Artifacts:

There are also two Primal Artifacts, once wielded by Thadgeir the Branded that have been in the safe keeping of the Noiral until the Thalmor attack. The waraxe "Reaver" and the bow "FrostFyre" were both weapons forged by Thadgeir's hand, and were infused with primal energies enhancing their powers greatly. (These weapons have glow maps and will glow in the dark!)

Frostfyre deals fire, frost and stamina damage, and has a chance at slowing targets. Reaver does fire and stamina damage, and has a chance at staggering foes. Both weapons have unlimited charges, and are fairly comparable in stats (if not slightly more powerful) to artifacts currently in game. The weapons themselves are equivalent to Daedric quality weapons.

The additional powers and artifacts are meant to be very rare, so they have not and will not be placed on a merchant anywhere. They are meant to be earned, hence me placing them in various points throughout the game. If you have already finished questing in these areas, then see the below on how to get your hands on the spells and weapons.

Locations of tomes and weapons:

The spell tomes are scattered throughout a few locations. Primal Frost and Primal Blast can be found in Helgen Keep in the torture chamber. Primal Bear II and Primal Strike can be found in the Thalmor Embassy Dungeon (on a chest). Primal Sight, Primal Flame and Primal Energy Form can be found in Northwatch Keep (stacked above a counter area behind a bar). Conjure Primal Dragon, the waraxe Reaver, and the bow, Frostfyre, can be found in Reachwind Eyrie (this tower is patrolled by a freed Primal Dragon; which you will need to beat to gain the tome to summon it, and it has been set to be friendly with the nearby Orc stronghold so as not to kill anyone there thus messing up your quests, and you will have to face a wizard and his lackeys on the inside).

Primal Static is in the Winterhold College Arcanaeum (will need to do a little theft for that one).

If you have already played through these areas and do not wish to revisit anything, open the console and type "help primal", without the quotes, and manually add the spell tomes and weapons.

They have a carrying capacity of 300, and enjoy a .5 increase to their regeneration rates over vanilla races (Magicka, Stamina, Health). Like I said, just moderately above vanilla races, but not by much.

Known Issues:

Alright, Skyrim is a BIG game. Custom Races often have troubles in regards to being able to complete certain quests, due to missing dialogue and such, and I cannot locate every single one to give you forewarning. My only recommendation there, since I am not good with scripts and such, is to google the console commands that allow you to skip certain stages of a quest. If you have problems with quest completion, let me know, and I'll run it on up the chain to the custom race fix gurus and see what they can come up with.

Also, be sure to double the Dawnguard Compatibility and Requirements sections as listed above for any potential issues/conflicts.

When in Primal Bear form there may be issues when running through small/tight spaces. As well, if you go into the first person view, you will not be able to attack while in this form.

And for some reason, Primal Strike keeps showing up as an Alteration Spell...I cannot get it to read properly as a Destruction Spell for whatever reason. Also, the Primal Dragon needs enough room to be summoned in, so the spell may fail when in areas without enough space.

One other possible issue: Any mod that alters Reachwind Eyrie might, just might conflict with this mod.

Mods that change the skeleton of bears and sabrecats will conflict with the Primal Transformations powers. If you go to change form, and the camera shifts to between the forms legs, then download my optional beast mesh files and click yes to overwrite. This should overwrite the offending beast skeletons, placing mine back in the mix, and should solve the problem. As well, I have noticed that some mods that offer shapeshifting abilities might cause the attacks/abilities of the Primal Forms to not function properly. Again, try the mesh file method, and then play with the load order, placing the Noiral esp over the offending mods esp.

I do not get paid to do troubleshooting and tech work on your home machines/games. I will answer what questions I can, and help where I can, but I have a life and family outside of this game that need attending from time to time. So, if I don't get to you in a timely manner, or cannot help you with your problems, then I do apologize, but I can't and won't be able to solve everyone's problems. That being said:

If you have any issues with this mod, then check the Known Issues section on the mod description page and try the trouble shooting tips below before asking for help, because this is the same cut and paste answer I will give to everyone to start out with. I cannot possibly know or even guess at the number of potential mod conflicts because everyone's unique choices in mods can affect things in very unique ways, which is why 9 times out of 10, my answer is, I don't know, haven't heard of that, or some potential variation of the exact same theme. One huge factor to take into consideration here is that the number and types of mods can affect your game. If you are having issues, you may need to seriously rethink how many mods you actually need on your system.

If you download the Dawnguard updates and don't have DG installed, that may crash the game. And, have you double checked and reviewed the DG compatibility section, requirements, and Known Issues?

As well, physically go into your Skyrim data folder (program files(x86)>steam>steamapps>common>skyrim>data folder), and make sure that you have the Noiral esp and bsa and RaceCompatibility.esm files physically in the folder. And before you hit play on the game menu, go to the data files selection menu under the play and options selection, and make certain that the Noiral.esp and RaceCompatibility.esm files are checked and active in that menu.

If all of this is well and good, then move on to the next part.

Obviously I am going to recommend starting with a brand new game. Now, to troubleshoot any possible conflicting mods, what I recommend is make it a save free of any additional mods. When checking for mods that need to be disabled for your checks and testing, remember any mods you are using through the Steam Workshop, and if you are using the curse client or any other source for mods. You also need to make certain that any mod you are using is currently up to date, as that can cause unforeseen issues. Get your game started, make your character, and save the game.

The next part may or may not be tedious depending on the number of mods you run (I run a ton of mods, so for me it takes awhile). Activate a mod, log in to the game, and check things out, see if it works. Then log out, activate another mod, log back in and check the results. Wash, rinse, and repeat until you find the conflicting mod.

A fresh install of Skyrim, if you run through multiple mods like I do isn't a bad idea, as this truly is a buggy game, and it is impossible to predict what may set an issue off; just the other day I installed a simple mod to change the way one npc looks and the game started crashing. I did a fresh install of the game with the exact same mods, and the same character changing mod, and now everything works fine.

On the fresh install, to be certain that I get everything, I disable all of my mods, then I completely delete my skyrim folder manually, and then I go into steam, and uninstall it via the steam client. Then I reinstall the game, reinstall my mods, and that usually get's things up and running.

One thing I would recommend is saving a copy of your fresh save game somewhere on your desktop in case the one you made gets corrupted.

CTDS on Changing to Female Noiral: This is not a unique thing to my mod, as I have yet to have it happen, and rarely hear people talk about in relation to my mod. It will get a special mention here because it will give me a setup for my cut and paste answer for the issue.

Here is a response to another user that I will share with some thoughts on the issue: "Then you have a conflict somewhere, as after a quick google search, I have seen where people that are not using my mod have had issues with even vanilla races and this. Besides running through my troubleshooting guide and pinpointing the offending mod (I have seen a lot of people mentioning hair mods being the main culprit), you can try and make a male Noiral, then use the console command to change your sex. After your sex is changed, then you can try and go into the character creation screen and modify the character. You can also make a female nord, then use the change race console command to change to a noiral. After the change, you can try and enter the character creation screen via console to alter the character there. "

Now, while I have given you a possible workaround, like I said way in the beginning, you need to consider things like the number of character resource mods you are running (hair mods, color mods, make-up mods, texture mods, mods with meshes and so on); these mods can take their toll even on higher end machines, and can wreak havoc on mid to low end machines, especially when used in the large numbers together.

So, I highly recommend to take a look at your mod setup, and really decide what is truly necessary for you to enjoy the game, and what is just fluff and not really needed. You can also try this mod for the sex change issue: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17071

Special Thanks:

A lot of mods and the works of talented modders went into the making of this little creation. Without them, this race and skins would not be possible. I am just basically the chef that had to find the tastiest ingredients, and mix it all up to serve to you guys. As well, I received permission for a few mods that did not in the end getting used for various reasons, but they are awesome mods regardless, and I wanted to thank the authors as well and endorse their mods. So, here we go with the thanks, and be sure to check out their individual mods (if I missed anyone, let me know so I can get them added):

Glowing Eyes by dumle35

Better Males by Chris57

Spectral Shades by Krisan

Sporty Sexy Map by xs2reality

ADEC by Acdale

UNP by dimon99

UNPB by calyps

CBBE by Caliente

EcthelionOtW, Seren4XX, VictoriaG, and SerecenHwke for being awesome and creating the rocking presets!

Creating a Playable Race by expired6978

RaceCompatibility for Dawnguard by TMPhoenix

Arisen1 for creating all of the Primal Textures for the beasts and weapons, check out some of her work: Cuter Animal Textures

CBBE skin texture V2 V3 plus Thepal and UNP compatible by navetsea

Smooth Faces for Ladies and Gents by pikkatze

High-Res Female Nord Skin by nuska

Sweaty body by HHaleyy

Mature skin texture and body for UNP CBBE ADEC by Maevan2

High Resolution Scars by Xenius

SG Textures by hellosanta

jaredbangerter for the tutorial on creating playable monsters and making them into polymorph spells: How to play as Monsters in Skyrim

As well, thanks to Obsidian Dawn for the rocking arcane designs, they really helped bring the vision of the Noiral to life: http://www.obsidiandawn.com/

And a big special thanks to my friend, Wes Sharp, who created the original idea of the Noiral a long time ago for a table top RPG. May you rest in peace my friend, you are missed. It is to his memory that I dedicate this mod.

Sorry, I don't know much of anything in dealing with the curse client, beyond packaging the mod. You'll either have to check the forums, or you can also find versions of this mod on steam and skyrim nexus.

You need to run through my troubleshooting guide, as due to the number of potential conflicts due to mods and the general bugginess of the game, it is impossible to say what may or may not be going on. The guide is in the literature above and is included in the read me.

As well, as also stated in the description section, if you have any issues that you cannot solve by troubleshooting, you can try and reach me at the nexus: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24397/